Top 10 Badass Antiheroes from ’70s Films

Top 10 Badass Antiheroes from 70s Films

This week on Sundance Channel, we’re showcasing some truly memorable films from the 1970s, featuring some of the very best badass antiheroes. No one ever said movie heroes were perfect. In fact, the most imperfect ones—the deeply flawed, the morally suspect—are often the most fascinating. Don’t miss these ‘70s classics, and stay tuned for next week’s films when we focus on the ‘80s!

10. Tony, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)

It’s easy to forget just how dark this movie is. Blame it on the Bee Gees and their upbeat harmonies. But when Tony (John Travolta) isn’t holding court as king of the disco dance floor, he’s dealing with a crappy job, a dead-end group of friends and a dysfunctional family—and playing his own part in the misogyny, violence and tense race relations of late-’70s Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

9. Swan, THE WARRIORS (1979)

One of the great cult classics of the ’70s, THE WARRIORS is also one of the campiest. Set in a New York overrun by fancifully uniformed gangs, it’s an urban mythological tale of antiheroism, where the “good guys”—led by Swan (Michael Beck)—are as violent and lawless and anarchic as the rest. But that doesn’t stop us from rooting them on.

8. Babe, MARATHON MAN (1976)

A victim of circumstances, Babe (Dustin Hoffman) starts off as an innocent caught up in his brother’s line of work (monitoring a former Nazi war criminal). But as he gets deeper and deeper into said Nazi’s (Laurence Olivier) stolen-diamond drama, Babe discovers his own capacity for tolerating torture (of the dental kind—owww) and dishing out retribution.

7. Kowalski, VANISHING POINT (1971)

A Vietnam vet and former cop, Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a car-delivery driver (the profession alone dates the film) who sets a breakneck pace with the fuzz and a bevy of fans following his every move. Amphetamine-guzzling, fast-driving, smooth-talking Kowalski is a perfectly flawed action antihero.

6. Deep Throat, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)

Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook)—whose true identity was ultimately revealed to be FBI bigwig W. Mark Felt—was critical in cracking the Watergate scandal. Was the information he fed Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) meant to bring down a crooked president, or was that an unintended consequence of a disgruntled employee? His motives were (and remain) murky.

5. Norma, NORMA RAE (1979)

It should perhaps come as no surprise that women are seriously underrepresented on this list, given the era and cultural expectations. Norma (Oscar winner Sally Field) is one big exception. Driven to “act out” by organizing a union in her North Carolina sweatshop, she is vilified for putting her family life second and has to fight on two fronts, to keep her job and to keep her role as wife and mother.

4. McMurphy, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)

In Miloš Forman’s seminal 1975 film about a mental hospital populated by crazies—patients and staff alike—Mac (Jack Nicholson), who is supposedly sane and gaming the system, may in fact be the craziest of all. He rallies his fellow inmates and restores to them a taste of freedom and independence, but his excesses and instability ultimately lead to his own (and others’) destruction.

3. Travis, TAXI DRIVER (1976)

Isolation and insomnia send vigilante cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) into a cycle of violence that is as riveting to watch as it is inexplicable. He is so compelling and contradictory that it’s hard to define him: child-prostitute savior? Would-be assassin? Yes—making him one of the great antiheroes in one of film’s greatest period pieces.

2. Alex, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)

Though his ultraviolence is repugnant, it’s really quite difficult not to be charmed by the charismatic Alex (Malcolm McDowell) as he leads his pack of droogs through the dystopian society Stanley Kubrick so richly depicts. Given his grotesque “rehabilitation,” we can’t help but wonder which is to blame: the criminal or the society that birthed him.

1. Sonny, DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975)

Sonny (Al Pacino, in an Oscar-nominated portrayal) is the ultimate antihero: The hapless bank robber whose heist goes amazingly wrong was doing the job to pay for his pre-op wife’s gender-reassignment surgery (never mind that he’s still married to a different woman). He’s unfailingly sympathetic—despite, you know, holding up a bank and taking hostages and failing miserably. A badass antihero for the ages.